Modern Britain

Charlestown Wesleyan Methodist Chapel is on the eastern side of Charlestown Road, just ten metres or so north of the Duporth Road junction. In 1799 a Methodist chapel existed in Charlestown, possibly on this same site. The present chapel - with one of the earliest galleried chapels in Cornwall - and the school room (behind it) were built in 1827. The chapel continued in use until 2000, when it closed and was sold. In 2012 the structure was in a poor state of repair.

Campdown Cemetery Chapel, Charlestown, is immediately south of the eastern edge of St Austell, on the southern side of Crinnis Road, and opposite Charlestown Primary School. The cemetery is maintained for Charlestown and takes all denominations, while the chapel is marked on the OS map for 1905. It is in fact a pair of semi-detached chapels at the western end of the cemetery. The eastern part of the cemetery was set out on an earlier quarry or mine site.

Tregrehan Primitive Methodist Chapel sits at the south-west corner of the Chapel Lane junction with the main north-south lane through Tregrehan (at the rear of the photo). Primitive Methodism was introduced between the mid-1820s and 1830s and a small cobb chapel was built. That was taken down in favour of the present building in 1857. The congregation moved into the Sunday school next door before 2003 and the chapel was converted into a private residence.

Tregrehan Methodist Church sits at the north-west corner of the same junction as its predecessor (see above). This building was erected as the Sunday school for the chapel, and it appears on the OS map for 1907. It is not clear when the congregation moved into this building but it seems to have taken place by 2003 and the old chapel was sold off for conversion into residential use. A First World War memorial sits outside the new chapel, and lists eight names.

Par Moor Plymouth Brethren Meeting Room is on the southern side of Par Moor Road (A3082), opposite the Biscovey Road junction. This area was undeveloped marsh and scrubland until the 1990s when the land was acquired for a Seventh-Day Adventist church and a motor museum. It is likely that the Plymouth Brethren took over this church while the Adventists remained in St Austell (see links). Planning documents suggest that the current hall was erected in 2008.

All photos on this page by Jo Lewis.